Great Diversion
Remember When?
"Why'd you let him have it right after I told him no?" Claudia yelled at Tre from the kitchen. Tre was standing in the door way with arms crossed.
"I don't get what your problem is," he snapped back at her.
"My problem is that you contradict me right in front of me. When I say he can't do something, that means he can't do it!"
"You are being so ridiculous! So I let him have a popsicle! It's not going to kill him!"
"It's the principle, Tre. I don't like-"
Tre cut her off.
"When you're wrong?"
Claudia stared at him icily. "Shut up."
"That's it. You don't like to be wrong. Shown up. Well, guess what? You're wrong!" He spat the last word out with intent to maim. Claudia was now enraged. She picked up a glass from the counter and chucked it at him. He smashed up against the door jam to avoid being hit.
"I hate you!" she screamed when he wasn't hit.
"You didn't hate me when we were still fucking each other!" he yelled back.
"I hate you!" She couldn't think of anything worse to say and it made her furious.
"I don't care if you hate me," Tre glared at her.
"Get out!" she lobbed another glass at him and it shattered against the wall.
"Hey honey," he sneered. "It's my house, not yours. You didn't fucking pay for it."
He turned and jogged up the stairs and slammed the bathroom door closed as hard as he could. He slumped into the corner and started bawling. He pushed his face into his knees, seriously regretting what had just happened. After about twenty minutes, he heard a quiet knocking at the door and it startled him.
"What?" he said, trying to cover up any sound of crying in his voice.
"Daddy?"
He closed his eyes. He didn't want to deal with Frankito right now, because he felt he could never figure out how to tell him what was wrong.
"Daddy?"
Tre opened the door to see Frankito clutching his stuffed goat, Mr. Fumbles.
"Are you sad?" Frankito asked. Tre nodded and Frankito held out Mr. Fumbles. Tre sank to the floor to be at Frankito's level and pulled him into his arms.
"I'm so sorry."
Frankito looked up at his dad. "It's okay."
"No, it's not. When the five year old is more mature than the adults in the house, it's not okay."
***
Tre and Ava were cuddled up on her couch watching "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. He'd been quiet that night, and for him that was unusual. Ava cocked her head and looked at him. He seemed worried to her. She played with his hair and said,
"Are you okay?"
He gave a little nod, but continued to stare at the television.
" No, I mean really," Ava said. "What's going on with you?"
Tre sighed and laid his head on her shoulder.
"It's Claudia."
"What's she-"
Tre sighed again.
"Nothing."
"Come on, you can tell me sweetie."
He nodded.
"It's just horrible being at home. For everyone. I just worry about Frankito so much. We've been fighting a lot. I don't just mean arguments. It's, like, yelling and she tends to pitch stuff, too." Once the flood gates were let down, he yammered on and on.
"It's like we just figured out we're divorced. Two years late. Even today, it's always about little things, like, I let him have a popsicle after she said he couldn't- it's a fucking popsicle- and she freaks and starts yelling and throwing shit at me. And I know Frankito heard it. All. He comes and finds me sobbing in the bathroom and tries to give me Mr. Fumbles."
Ava kissed his forehead. "I'm so sorry sweetie."
"Me, too." He was quiet for a minute, then said,
"And it's like she doesn't care that he hears, you know? It's horrible?"
"I know," she said.
"And he's the most important thing in that house. I just know this is effecting him. It's like she doesn't even care. When he was a baby, she'd give anything for him. He was the most important thing in the world to her. As he should be."
"Yeah," Ava said. "What's wrong, do you think?"
Tre shook his head. "I don't know. But I don't want to talk about it anymore."
"But if you talk about it, you'll feel better."
"I said, I don't want to talk about it any more."
Ava pulled away. It was the first time he'd snapped at her and it started her.
"Okay." She said meekly.
Tre immediately felt bad, but still didn't want to talk about it. He pushed into her shoulder as an apology and stretched out with his head in her lap. Ava was silent for the rest of the show, and after "The Moment of Zen", Tre spaced out. His mind went back to when he and Claudia didn't hate each other's guts...
"It's way hotter in here than the rest of the house," he said, closing the bedroom door behind him.
"The whole house? I thought you went to the bathroom," Claudia said, holding the blankets up to let him under.
"Yeah, but I went to the one downstairs."
"Ugh," she laughed. "You make everything twice as hard as it has to be."
"That's my goal," he smiled at her with his eyebrows raised before reaching over her to turn off the bedside lamp. They kissed, then settled down to go back to sleep. It'd been about seven minutes, when they heard a huge crash and Frankito screaming at the top of his lungs. Claudia flew out of Tre's arms and across the hall to Frankito's room. Tre followed, only slightly slower, as it was 3:30 in the morning. When they reached him he was spread out on the ground with the side of his crib laying on top of him.
"Oh my god," Claudia gasped before rushing over to him. Tre lifted the crib wall off of him and she scooped Frankito up.
"Hey," she said, trying to calm him down and carrying him to the chair across the room. "Hey, baby, it's okay. It's all right."
Her squeezed into the chair next to her, pulling him half way into his lap and smoothing his hair down. "Frankito," he said rubbing his back. " It's okay. Shh, honey, it's okay."
"Let's take him back to bed with us," she said getting up from the chair, pulling him away from Tre. He nodded and followed.
"What do you think happened?" he said, pushing the blankets away so she'd have a place to lay down.
"I don't know...," her voice trailed off. "What happened, baby?"
He just kept crying. Tre lay down next to her and they held him together.
"What happened?" he asked him, even though he doubted he'd know. He was only a year and a half. Claudia knelt above him, trying to get a better look at him. "You fall, baby?" She kissed him.
"Did you fall, Frankito?" she asked him again and he stopped crying long enough to say, "Yah, mommy."
Tre and Claudia looked at each other, before cooing at him and cuddling him.
"Poor baby," she said, trying to lift him up, but his eyes widened and he flopped back.
"Stop, stop!" Tre said, pushing her hands away from him and pulling him into his chest. "I think you're making him all dizzy."
"Dizzy?" she said and when he nodded, she had a panicked look on her face. "What if he hit his head? He could be really hurt. I'm gonna take him into the bathroom. It's brighter in there."
"Okay," Tre said. She picked Frankito up from the bed and started to leave when he gave out a squeak and threw up over her shoulder.
"Claudia!" Tre said.
"Oh god," she pulled Frankito's face into her shoulder. "We gotta take him to the hospital."
"Wait, aren't you getting ahead of-"
"No. We're taking him to the hospital now."
Tre nodded, startled by her urgency. He got up and pulled his shoes on.
"What about," he pointed to where Frankito'd thrown up.
"We'll get it later. Let's go."
***
"What happened?"
It was the fourth time they'd been asked this since they'd gotten to the hospital. Claudia sighed and said,
" We think he fell out of his crib."
"You think?" the doctor said, skeptically.
"Um, hmm," Tre said. "He figured out how to unlatch the side, like, two days ago."
The doctor looked at me over her clipboard before pulling a little flashlight out of her lab coat pocket and flashing it in his eyes.
"Can he talk?" she asked.
Tre and Claudia looked at each other.
"Yeah," she said reaching over and pulling his shirt down over his tummy. He was laying on his back, staring silently up at the doctor. "He's a year and a half."
"Okay," the doctor said. "If he fell, he may have hit his head, so we should get a scan of him to make sure he doesn't have a concussion."
"Is that necessary?" Claudia's eyes were wide with fear.
"If he hit his head, yes. You told the nurse he was dizzy and throwing up, correct?"
"Yeah, but-"
The doctor put a hand up to cut her off. She wrote something on her clipboard before handing it to a nurse and leaving the curtain. Claudia was visibly taken aback. She started crying and Tre pulled her into him.
"Will we be able to be there with him?" she choked out. He shook his head. "I don't know, but I doubt it."
"He's gonna be so scared," and cried and buried her face in his chest.
"Momma?" Frankito was holding her arms out to her.
"Oh, baby, it's okay," he said sitting on the bed and scooping him up.
They waited for two and a half hours until they were taken up to radiology. They were told to wait outside while they took him into the CAT scan room. He fought them, grabbing onto Tre's shirt and crying. I could see Claudia was seconds away from losing it when they took him. She sat in the chair outside the room biting her nails off, as she did when she was nervous. They could hear him crying inside and calling for them. The scan took a half an hour and when they brought him out, he practically jumped off the bed at them, but got dizzy again.
The radiologist laughed and said,
"Yeah, you probably shouldn't do that." He handed the scan results to the nurse and said,
"The doctor will review the results with you, but you don't need to worry."
Claudia sighed and said,
"Can I carry him?"
The nurse nodded and they headed back down to the ER. Frankito curled up in her arms and sucked his thumb. Usually she scolded him for doing so, but she let it slide this time.
***
Tre shot back to consciousness and shook the thoughts out of his head. He looked up at Ava and she was asleep, curled around him with her head on the arm of the couch. He crawled out of her embrace, scooped her up and carried her into her room. Placing her under the blankets, he wondered if he should go home or just stay the night. He really didn't want to go home, plus he figured she might think he was angry with her if he took off without saying anything. He kicked off his shoes and removed his pants. Just as he lifted up the covers to get into the bed, Ava opened her eyes and smiled.
"Is it okay if I stay?" he asked.
"Of course, sweetheart," she said sitting up and stretching. "You're already pantsless."
She got out of bed and wandered over to her closet, pulling out her pajamas. While she dressed, Tre crawled into bed and felt tiredness wash over him. He was barely awake when Ava slid back into bed and cuddled into him. She reached up and kissed him.
"Night," she smiled.
Yawning, he just mumbled "Mmm."
"I don't get what your problem is," he snapped back at her.
"My problem is that you contradict me right in front of me. When I say he can't do something, that means he can't do it!"
"You are being so ridiculous! So I let him have a popsicle! It's not going to kill him!"
"It's the principle, Tre. I don't like-"
Tre cut her off.
"When you're wrong?"
Claudia stared at him icily. "Shut up."
"That's it. You don't like to be wrong. Shown up. Well, guess what? You're wrong!" He spat the last word out with intent to maim. Claudia was now enraged. She picked up a glass from the counter and chucked it at him. He smashed up against the door jam to avoid being hit.
"I hate you!" she screamed when he wasn't hit.
"You didn't hate me when we were still fucking each other!" he yelled back.
"I hate you!" She couldn't think of anything worse to say and it made her furious.
"I don't care if you hate me," Tre glared at her.
"Get out!" she lobbed another glass at him and it shattered against the wall.
"Hey honey," he sneered. "It's my house, not yours. You didn't fucking pay for it."
He turned and jogged up the stairs and slammed the bathroom door closed as hard as he could. He slumped into the corner and started bawling. He pushed his face into his knees, seriously regretting what had just happened. After about twenty minutes, he heard a quiet knocking at the door and it startled him.
"What?" he said, trying to cover up any sound of crying in his voice.
"Daddy?"
He closed his eyes. He didn't want to deal with Frankito right now, because he felt he could never figure out how to tell him what was wrong.
"Daddy?"
Tre opened the door to see Frankito clutching his stuffed goat, Mr. Fumbles.
"Are you sad?" Frankito asked. Tre nodded and Frankito held out Mr. Fumbles. Tre sank to the floor to be at Frankito's level and pulled him into his arms.
"I'm so sorry."
Frankito looked up at his dad. "It's okay."
"No, it's not. When the five year old is more mature than the adults in the house, it's not okay."
***
Tre and Ava were cuddled up on her couch watching "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. He'd been quiet that night, and for him that was unusual. Ava cocked her head and looked at him. He seemed worried to her. She played with his hair and said,
"Are you okay?"
He gave a little nod, but continued to stare at the television.
" No, I mean really," Ava said. "What's going on with you?"
Tre sighed and laid his head on her shoulder.
"It's Claudia."
"What's she-"
Tre sighed again.
"Nothing."
"Come on, you can tell me sweetie."
He nodded.
"It's just horrible being at home. For everyone. I just worry about Frankito so much. We've been fighting a lot. I don't just mean arguments. It's, like, yelling and she tends to pitch stuff, too." Once the flood gates were let down, he yammered on and on.
"It's like we just figured out we're divorced. Two years late. Even today, it's always about little things, like, I let him have a popsicle after she said he couldn't- it's a fucking popsicle- and she freaks and starts yelling and throwing shit at me. And I know Frankito heard it. All. He comes and finds me sobbing in the bathroom and tries to give me Mr. Fumbles."
Ava kissed his forehead. "I'm so sorry sweetie."
"Me, too." He was quiet for a minute, then said,
"And it's like she doesn't care that he hears, you know? It's horrible?"
"I know," she said.
"And he's the most important thing in that house. I just know this is effecting him. It's like she doesn't even care. When he was a baby, she'd give anything for him. He was the most important thing in the world to her. As he should be."
"Yeah," Ava said. "What's wrong, do you think?"
Tre shook his head. "I don't know. But I don't want to talk about it anymore."
"But if you talk about it, you'll feel better."
"I said, I don't want to talk about it any more."
Ava pulled away. It was the first time he'd snapped at her and it started her.
"Okay." She said meekly.
Tre immediately felt bad, but still didn't want to talk about it. He pushed into her shoulder as an apology and stretched out with his head in her lap. Ava was silent for the rest of the show, and after "The Moment of Zen", Tre spaced out. His mind went back to when he and Claudia didn't hate each other's guts...
"It's way hotter in here than the rest of the house," he said, closing the bedroom door behind him.
"The whole house? I thought you went to the bathroom," Claudia said, holding the blankets up to let him under.
"Yeah, but I went to the one downstairs."
"Ugh," she laughed. "You make everything twice as hard as it has to be."
"That's my goal," he smiled at her with his eyebrows raised before reaching over her to turn off the bedside lamp. They kissed, then settled down to go back to sleep. It'd been about seven minutes, when they heard a huge crash and Frankito screaming at the top of his lungs. Claudia flew out of Tre's arms and across the hall to Frankito's room. Tre followed, only slightly slower, as it was 3:30 in the morning. When they reached him he was spread out on the ground with the side of his crib laying on top of him.
"Oh my god," Claudia gasped before rushing over to him. Tre lifted the crib wall off of him and she scooped Frankito up.
"Hey," she said, trying to calm him down and carrying him to the chair across the room. "Hey, baby, it's okay. It's all right."
Her squeezed into the chair next to her, pulling him half way into his lap and smoothing his hair down. "Frankito," he said rubbing his back. " It's okay. Shh, honey, it's okay."
"Let's take him back to bed with us," she said getting up from the chair, pulling him away from Tre. He nodded and followed.
"What do you think happened?" he said, pushing the blankets away so she'd have a place to lay down.
"I don't know...," her voice trailed off. "What happened, baby?"
He just kept crying. Tre lay down next to her and they held him together.
"What happened?" he asked him, even though he doubted he'd know. He was only a year and a half. Claudia knelt above him, trying to get a better look at him. "You fall, baby?" She kissed him.
"Did you fall, Frankito?" she asked him again and he stopped crying long enough to say, "Yah, mommy."
Tre and Claudia looked at each other, before cooing at him and cuddling him.
"Poor baby," she said, trying to lift him up, but his eyes widened and he flopped back.
"Stop, stop!" Tre said, pushing her hands away from him and pulling him into his chest. "I think you're making him all dizzy."
"Dizzy?" she said and when he nodded, she had a panicked look on her face. "What if he hit his head? He could be really hurt. I'm gonna take him into the bathroom. It's brighter in there."
"Okay," Tre said. She picked Frankito up from the bed and started to leave when he gave out a squeak and threw up over her shoulder.
"Claudia!" Tre said.
"Oh god," she pulled Frankito's face into her shoulder. "We gotta take him to the hospital."
"Wait, aren't you getting ahead of-"
"No. We're taking him to the hospital now."
Tre nodded, startled by her urgency. He got up and pulled his shoes on.
"What about," he pointed to where Frankito'd thrown up.
"We'll get it later. Let's go."
***
"What happened?"
It was the fourth time they'd been asked this since they'd gotten to the hospital. Claudia sighed and said,
" We think he fell out of his crib."
"You think?" the doctor said, skeptically.
"Um, hmm," Tre said. "He figured out how to unlatch the side, like, two days ago."
The doctor looked at me over her clipboard before pulling a little flashlight out of her lab coat pocket and flashing it in his eyes.
"Can he talk?" she asked.
Tre and Claudia looked at each other.
"Yeah," she said reaching over and pulling his shirt down over his tummy. He was laying on his back, staring silently up at the doctor. "He's a year and a half."
"Okay," the doctor said. "If he fell, he may have hit his head, so we should get a scan of him to make sure he doesn't have a concussion."
"Is that necessary?" Claudia's eyes were wide with fear.
"If he hit his head, yes. You told the nurse he was dizzy and throwing up, correct?"
"Yeah, but-"
The doctor put a hand up to cut her off. She wrote something on her clipboard before handing it to a nurse and leaving the curtain. Claudia was visibly taken aback. She started crying and Tre pulled her into him.
"Will we be able to be there with him?" she choked out. He shook his head. "I don't know, but I doubt it."
"He's gonna be so scared," and cried and buried her face in his chest.
"Momma?" Frankito was holding her arms out to her.
"Oh, baby, it's okay," he said sitting on the bed and scooping him up.
They waited for two and a half hours until they were taken up to radiology. They were told to wait outside while they took him into the CAT scan room. He fought them, grabbing onto Tre's shirt and crying. I could see Claudia was seconds away from losing it when they took him. She sat in the chair outside the room biting her nails off, as she did when she was nervous. They could hear him crying inside and calling for them. The scan took a half an hour and when they brought him out, he practically jumped off the bed at them, but got dizzy again.
The radiologist laughed and said,
"Yeah, you probably shouldn't do that." He handed the scan results to the nurse and said,
"The doctor will review the results with you, but you don't need to worry."
Claudia sighed and said,
"Can I carry him?"
The nurse nodded and they headed back down to the ER. Frankito curled up in her arms and sucked his thumb. Usually she scolded him for doing so, but she let it slide this time.
***
Tre shot back to consciousness and shook the thoughts out of his head. He looked up at Ava and she was asleep, curled around him with her head on the arm of the couch. He crawled out of her embrace, scooped her up and carried her into her room. Placing her under the blankets, he wondered if he should go home or just stay the night. He really didn't want to go home, plus he figured she might think he was angry with her if he took off without saying anything. He kicked off his shoes and removed his pants. Just as he lifted up the covers to get into the bed, Ava opened her eyes and smiled.
"Is it okay if I stay?" he asked.
"Of course, sweetheart," she said sitting up and stretching. "You're already pantsless."
She got out of bed and wandered over to her closet, pulling out her pajamas. While she dressed, Tre crawled into bed and felt tiredness wash over him. He was barely awake when Ava slid back into bed and cuddled into him. She reached up and kissed him.
"Night," she smiled.
Yawning, he just mumbled "Mmm."